Documentary is thrilled to debut an exclusive clip from The Bend in the River—directed, shot, and produced by Robb Moss—which will have its Telluride world premiere later this weekend. It is the third installment in a trilogy of personal documentary films about Moss and his longtime friends: Cathy, Barry, Jim, Danny, and Jeff.

Moss, a pioneer of personal documentary and longtime professor at Harvard, has been filming this group since the 1970s. The first film, the mid-length Riverdogs (1978), sees them in their early 20s on a trip down the Colorado River. The second, The Same River Twice (2003), sees them reflecting on their past and living their middle-aged present. At once evocative and understated, The Bend in the River is the culmination of this series, combining images and footage across 50 years of friendship. In terms of longitudinal personal documentary practices, few other filmmakers have pursued such a long-term project.

The Bend in the River is also produced by Lisa Remington and Kristin Feeley, Sundance’s longtime director of the documentary artist programs and labs. (Documentary’s interview with Moss goes deeper into his longtime mentorship with the Sundance labs.) Jeff Malmberg (editor, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) edits. The film has assembled a large team of executive producers, from Joel Coen and Frances McDormand to documentary mainstays Shane Boris and financiers Geralyn Dreyfous, James Costa, and Trevor Burgess.

Moss describes the events of the clip shared with Documentary in this way: “This clip is from early in The Bend in the River as the film slides through time introducing each of the five characters. We first meet Jim as a young man, perfectly happy to live outdoors and row people through rapids. As the rest of our friend group moved away and began to construct what would become our middle age, Jim stayed on. In the space of a cut, we meet Jim again as he is about to turn 70. He's no longer on the river, but he's living the life he always wanted, without electricity, plumbing, phones, or computers. He muses about his next move.”